Game Over
by Arrluk
Summary: AU: Hudson survives his deadly encounter with the aliens and makes it back to the ship with the rest of the crew. The only problem is that there are a limited number of pods left for a limited number of people. Game over, man.  M for language


Disclaimer: I no own _Aliens_, you no sue.

* * *

"Game over, man."

"Shut up, Hudson."

"Seriously, what the fuck are we supposed to do now, huh?"

Hicks growled and ran a hand viciously through his hair, staring at the three other occupied pods before looking at the pod he was currently standing beside. Apparently, after he and Hudson had gone off to do a last minute check of the ship, Ripley had decided to set everyone else and herself up in suspended animation in some of the pods that hadn't been sabotaged by Burke, whom had revealed (under pressure from Hicks himself) that they had been tampered with. The only problem was that of the working pods, there was only one left. For two people. Evidently, Ripley hadn't thought to check how _many_ working pods were left…Fuck.

"Give me a moment."

Maybe this one wasn't the only pod left. Yeah, maybe they just hadn't inspected the others correctly and there was another non-sabotaged pod left. He snorted to himself, _Yeah right_.

"Check the other pods again, maybe we missed one."

"I really fucking doubt we missed one. I can't believe this! Of all the f-"

Hicks roughly grabbed him mid-rant and dragged him over to snarl into his face,

"Shut the fuck up and do as you're told. In our rush to get out of here we may have overlooked another working pod. Now check them again!"

Hudson nodded quickly, shuffling away from Hicks when the taller soldier let him go. He obediently stumbled over to the sabotaged pods, favoring the leg that had nearly gotten torn off when the alien had almost dragged him through the floor. Hicks, meanwhile, sighed, laying his weapon and armor down next to the pod he was standing beside. He knew there wasn't another working pod. There was only one way out of this situation that involved the both of them arriving at the base healthy and whole.

He smirked as he removed his shirt, throwing it down onto the floor next to his weapon. Now the trick was to get Hudson to see it his way. A feat that was going to prove to be a bit problematic.

"I fucking told you! None of these work! Now what're we gonna do?"

"Calm down, Hudson."

Hudson grabbed wildly at his hair and tugged viciously at it, "Survived nearly getting _killed_ or _impregnated_ by a bunch of fucking weird-ass stupid _aliens_ only to find out there is only one working pod left between _two_ people! What, do we have to decide between the two of us who gets the pod? Obviously you, being the superior officer and I'm just a private who's scared to death of _dying_…"

Hicks grabbed Hudson again, dragging him around and jerking him, silencing the hysterical private mid-rant.

"No one is going to die, Hudson. Just because there is one working pod left doesn't mean the end of the world. Now take off your shirt."

That last statement alone shocked Hudson into silence, causing him to simply stare at Hicks as the other man removed his sweat-soaked pants, leaving him standing before the shaken private in nothing but his boxers. Upon looking up to see Hudson staring at him, Hicks quirked an eyebrow.

"What, you want me to help you with that?"

As if to emphasize his point, he leaned forward to snatch at the other man's armor. Hudson jerked backwards as if electrically shocked.

"What the hell are you talking about, man?"

"Isn't it obvious? There isn't any safety regulation for these pods that says _only_ one person can occupy a pod, so we'll share the last one since the others are already engaged. The pods automatically attune to the needs of the individual in the pod or, in this case, to two individuals. Now, let's start with your armor. Actually, we should probably patch up your leg, too, before we hit the sack, so to speak."

Hudson simply _stared_.

"But…I…we can't…why would …?"

Hicks smiled reassuringly at him, "I didn't save your screaming ass from being dragged through the floor only to throw you out the airlock when faced with a seemingly impossible situation. As I said, there is no safety regulation regarding two people sharing a pod, so that's what we'll be doing. We don't have the time or the expertise to fix the sabotaged pods, so we'll be sharing the remaining one, okay?"

Hudson paused, unsure and more than a little uncomfortable, considering his superior officer was standing before him in nothing but boxers proposing they get into a small confined space together to sleep in suspended animation for a few weeks. He wasn't entirely sure if the thought intrigued or terrified him.

Hicks chuckled at the strange expression on the other's face, before stepping closer to begin unstrapping Hudson's armor.

"Let's get you undressed and tend to that leg, alright?" He said this calmly, as if speaking to a frightened animal, which, considering the current expression on the private's face, wasn't entirely far from the truth. The other man looked as if he were about to bolt or, at the very least, collapse into another hysterical rant.

Hicks had managed to remove both shoulder pads and the chest armor before Hudson snapped back into awareness and jerked backwards again.

"I can undress myself," he stated indignantly.

Hicks smirked, "Well, get to it. The faster you get that shirt and those pants off, the faster we can put some antiseptic and gauze on that leg of yours. I'll get the first aid kit, sit up on the table here when you get your pants off," he motioned absently to a table nearby, "and we'll get it bandaged."

The dark haired private nodded nervously before jerking his shirt over his head when Hicks turned away. He tossed it onto the pile of clothing that Hicks had already started before getting to work on his pants. He unbuckled his belt before gingerly sliding his pants down, hissing with pain as the pant leg stuck to the wound.

On the other side of the room, Hicks had already grabbed the first aid kit but upon hearing the hiss of pain, he grabbed a bottle of pain reliever before sauntering back over.

Hudson sat stiffly upon the table, blood running freely down his shredded left leg. Hicks had to grimace as he got a full view of the damage the alien had done before he placed the first aid kit beside the injured private and got to work. Seeing the wound in front of him made him think of his own close encounter on their way out. Thankfully, he had managed to avoid the potentially fatal wound. The wound was several inches long and rather deep. In short, Hicks was pretty damn sure it needed stitches. Sighing, he absently threaded the needle as Hudson watched nervously. He dabbed a cotton swab in some antiseptic and, with somewhat of a warning glance to his patient, wiped it all over the wound, digging it into the wound a bit to ensure it didn't get infected. Hicks half expected the private to kick him in the face with pain, but, to Hudson's credit, all he did was strangle out a repressed whimper and tense to a ramrod straight position.

"Sorry, buddy, but we gotta clean it, less it get infected. We're gonna do stitches next, alright?"

Hudson winced, but nodded his ascent.

Hicks patted his knee in encouragement and then set to work stitching the wound together. Hudson winced every time Hicks plunged the needle into his skin, but remained relatively still. The wound was ugly, but with Hicks working quickly and diligently, the wound was closed within a few minutes. He smeared a bit more antiseptic over the wound before wrapping the entire injury in gauze and securing it firmly. He patted Hudson's good leg before standing up with the med kit in his hand.

"Alright, take these," he handed the lightly trembling private a few pain killers, "For the pain. That's it for your leg, any other injuries I should know about or can I put the med kit away?"

Hudson shook his head, so Hicks meandered back over to the closet to store the kit back where it belonged. He turned back around upon securing the closet only to find Hudson still sitting where he had left him. He laughed softly to himself, shaking his head and striding back over to the private. The blood loss must have been catching up to the normally hyperactive man if he was this completely out of it. Hudson absently blinked as his superior officer suddenly stood before him, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Oi, Hudson! You feeling alright? Come on, what's your problem?"

Hudson merely blinked tiredly at him, "'M jus' tired, and, um, leg hurts."

Hicks chuckled before tugging on Hudson's arm, coaxing him down off the table and supporting him when his leg nearly buckled.

"Come on, let's get set up, yeah? Sooner we're in that pod, sooner you can sleep and get off that mangled leg of yours."

Hudson seemed compliant enough until they reached the side of the cryogenic pod. He balked suddenly, catching Hicks by surprise and nearly setting him off balance. Suddenly, it seemed as if Hudson had gotten a second wind, or at least managed to scrape together enough energy to put up a fight going into the pod.

"Uh uh, no way. It's game over from here man, I ain't sharing a pod with you. No. We can't, regulations don't cover it, can't be safe and I _know_ those regulations…"

At this point, he had started to tremble again, staring at the pod nervously, as if it were going to attack him and Hicks. Hicks grabbed onto the private a little more firmly to prevent escape, rubbing his arm comfortingly. He sighed, it seemed as if the ordeal of nearly getting killed by a psychotic alien race was catching up to the private. He could sense that if he didn't rectify the situation now, the subtle trembling that was wracking his lanky frame would turn into violent shivering.

He nodded to himself, reversing their positions while keeping a firm grip on the other man's arm. Hudson watched him uneasily, not trying to escape but standing tensely all the same. Hicks merely smiled reassuringly before backing up until his legs hit the pod.

"It's ok Hudson, just because sharing a pod isn't in regulations doesn't _mean_ anything about the safety of it. It's not like they regularly plan for crew members to turn on each other and sabotage the other pods. I know how these things work just like you do, the pods are designed to supply enough oxygen to meet the demand of the occupant, in this case, occupants. There is far more than enough oxygen in the tanks to support two people, especially with the rest of the pods out of commission Now, as I said before, I did _not_ pull you up away from that alien only to toss you away when we discover there's only one pod left. We're going to share a pod and, _no_, you don't get to argue."

Hudson merely stared in astonishment as his superior officer shimmied backwards onto the pod until he was sitting on it, his legs dangling and continuing to restrain Hudson. The private watched with nervousness, absently tugging his restrained arm, but Hicks had it firmly in his grip. Hicks turned his body, swinging his legs onto the pod so he was in the perfect position to relax back onto the slightly raised half of the pod. Hudson shuffled more nervously, tugging his arm a bit more persistently.

Hicks, in response, yanked back, causing Hudson to stumble forward. He yelped, bracing his free arm against the lip of the pod. He stared incredulously at the smirking man.

"C'mere Hudson. That's it, one leg up, c'mon. What are you looking at? Don't make me manhandle you up here."

Hudson whimpered and Hicks finally took pity on him. In an impressive display of strength, he shifted his grip onto Hudson's waist and heaved him up and onto the pod. He got a startled squeak as a reward for his bold move and laughed. There was barely any room for him to even shift over to give Hudson space, so he settled for rearranging a nearly limp private to settle over his hips, blushing himself when the shifting caused their hips to grind together.

Hudson, on the other hand, was ramrod straight, eyes wide and hands hanging stiffly at his sides. The audacity of his superior officer had struck him silent, completely unable to comprehend that he was straddling (_straddling!_) Hicks' hips, without anything separating them but the thin clothing of their boxers. He…wasn't sure what to do. Any movement would only serve to embarrass him more. And there really wasn't any room for Hicks to scoot over so they could at least preserve a little sense of dignity by lying side by side. How the _fuck_ were they supposed to work this out?

Hicks watched Hudson with disguised amusement. His fellow soldier would have resembled a statue if not for the residual trembling that still shook his frame. It seemed as if Hudson wasn't going to relax so they could activate the pod if he didn't intervene. Sighing, he yanked on the closest arm again, gently trying to get Hudson's attention.

"Relax, I can't shut the top if you're still sitting up. C'mere," he emphasized his coaxing with a tug on the captive arm, while Hudson looked at him incredulously, "Just lie down," Hudson merely stared at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes, "Right here, c'mon, that's it."

Hudson, hesitatingly and ever so slowly began to maneuver himself to lie against his fellow soldier, being careful not to jar his leg too much. He was so tense and unsure that he failed to notice that his feet were still dangling over the edge of the pod.

Hicks, smiling to himself at Hudson's timidity, grabbed him under the arms and gently hauled him forward and up, so his feet were inside the pod and his head was pillowed against his chest. He reached up for the hood and gradually pulled it over and around, closing it with a soft snap. There was silence for a moment before Hudson screwed up enough courage to shift himself to a slightly more comfortable position, head turned to the side and his arms tucked closer to his face, arms bent in a not!-hug around the taller man. The pod was locked and not likely to open until they reached their destination, he simply had to accept it and make the best of it…

Hicks was a little surprised that there wasn't more of a fight, but shrugged it off as Hudson simply being Hudson. He pondered for a moment if Hudson would freak if he wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him from moving around before he figured, yeah, it was probably more than Hudson could handle at the moment and let it be. He'd wait until the exhausted soldier fell asleep before making sure he wouldn't move around and possibly tear open the stitches, which wouldn't be a pretty sight when they arrived back to base. He paused in his thoughts for a moment before an amusing image came to mind and he snickered softly, causing Hudson's weary head to bounce up and down on his chest.

"Muh… wha's so funny?" Hudson blinked blearily at him from his half-awake position pillowed against Hicks.

"I just had an image of the looks on our coworkers' faces when we get back to base and they go to wake us up."

Hudson chuckled sleepily, "I can jus' see it now, it'll be the mos' perfect wha' the _fuck_ face…"

* * *

The workers stared as they stood before the final pod that needed to be brought out of stasis. Simply _stared_. Never in all the time any of them had worked here had they seen something such as this, didn't know pods _could_ support two people. Who knew?

They cautiously approached closer, observing the two men. The shorter, dark haired man was relaxed in sleep, lying on his stomach on top of the other man, head tucked in the crook of his companion's neck, his arms tucked limply at his sides. His pod-mate, on his back, had one arm flung around his friend's waist to keep him from moving around. Both were still relaxed and completely content to just continue sleeping.

The aids looked at each other and back at the pod, faces screwed up in confusion. One brave man opened his mouth to sum up the situation.

"What the _fuck_?"

A/N: Not the best job ever, but whatever! :D I'm seriously surprised there aren't more of these fics. Maybe it's because it's an older movie or something. Honestly, first time I saw this movie a few years ago, I couldn't help but notice how grabby Hicks is with Hudson. I joked around about it with one of my roommates (who had watched the movie since she was a squirt) and she was like "OH MY GOD! You're right!" It's been a joke ever since. This story actually sprouted from our jokes.

C'mon writers, let's see more!


End file.
